HomeMy WebLinkAboutWUSSB 02-13-2014West University Senior Services Board Meeting February 13, 2014 Present: Pieter Vrancken(Chair), Stan McCandless, George Baker, Michelle Moore, Philip Bryant, Selby Clark, Janet Vrancken, Becky Arnold, Candyce Beneke, Mary Ryerson, Joe Mitchell, Virginia L ootens. Absent: Sarah Ballanfant, John Palmer. Staff: Toby Brooks, Tim O’Connor. Guests: Councilwoman Joan Johnson, Carlos De la Torre (GNT), Mary Lee Gray (GNT). The Meeting was called to order at 2:05PM.The Minutes of the previous m eeting were approved as presented. Matters Arising from the Minutes (Stan McCandless) Referring to the PARD report, Mr. McCandless expressed concern at the high percentage of non -residents participating in West U Senior activities and wondered whether this participation was be ing unduly subsidized by the West U budget. He recommended that this aspect should be monitored by staff. Toby Brooks noted that many outings would not be viable if one relied on resident participation alone. Activities (Toby Brooks): The recent visit to a n alpaca farm near Navasota was a great success: 19 people participated (4 residents). Immediately following this meeting Maureen Beck will be giving a lecture on health maintenance for the elderly, avoiding dangerous situations which can induce falls. The Tax Assistance Program is going strong. Girl Scouts put on a Valentine’s Day show and two volunteers from Episcopal High School assisted with a set of goody bag deliveries to a select group picked by Toby . APAC (Virginia Lootens): The February 6 meeting o pened with a great program “Let’s Have a Laugh” presented by Jeannette Lazarofsky. AAAis is conducting on -site monitoring of existing programs. A group is also collecting opinions on additional services which AAA might support. Proposals are being sought f or transportation and distribution for the Meals on Wheels program. A consortium of health care entities, sponsored by the Houston Health Department is enrolling applicants in health care providers for the Af fordable Care Act. The program is entitled Healt h Insurance Marketplace . AAA is providing benefits counselors. For information contact Henry Answers: 832 -393 -4494. Credits on utility bills will be available to qualifying seniors (more information shortly). May 12 a meeting of the Silver Haired Legislato rs will be held in Lee College . Mary Okabayashi a recent member of the Silver Haired Legislature is asking for a list of priorities: transportation, housing and any others. The Better Business Bureau and United Way have organized a Health Care Fraud Summit for February 14. A meeting of the Houston Gerontological Society is scheduled for this evening (Feb 13). Council (Joan Johnson): A proposal to go to Automatic Meter Reading for water supply was approved by Council on February 10 th . The cost is $1.88 Milli on. All residents are asked to complete the Parks Task Force Survey as the deadline is February 15. Good Neighbor Team ( Michelle Moore): At the January 16 th meeting the schedule for the year was established. The deliveries of poinsettias were discussed, i n particular that these included a free calendar from a vendor. Goals for the year include that all seniors should have a medical ID card; updating of the GNT handbook; that GNT members should have badges. The February 6 th meeting addressed Valentines card s. At this meeting it was learnt that 2 seniors had died . There does not seem to be any formal process for informing the GNT of seniors’ deaths. (Joan Johnson said that she had learnt accidentally from Toby of one of the deaths and so had been able to atte nd the funeral). Toby was asked to inform the appropriate GNT member of a death since she is aware of which member delivers to which senior. PARD (Tim O’Connor) Current response to the Parks Task Force Survey has been 20% which Texas A&M consider very goo d. The Texas Recreation & Parks Society is holding a meeting next week which Toby Brooks will attend. Previous Business: There has been some confusion as to whether the City should proceed with Ear Looping since not all hearing aids can take advantage of t his. The Council is considering installing this in the Council Chamber and going out for bids. Becky Arnold has asked Joan Johnson to pas on to Michael Ross a request that bids be sought for two locations. New Business: The Chairman reported on a conversat ion he had had with Stan McCandless on whether Stan would consider continuing as Co -Chair. Stan had suggested that it be brought up at this meeting. The Chairman said that since that conversation he had felt that he needed someone to deputize for him durin g his absences rather than alternating the chairmanship. He also felt that since the Co - Chairs of the Good Neighbor Team were both members of this Board perhaps it would be a good idea to enlist the participation of one of these ladies. After discussion M ichelle Moore, with the support of the Board, accepted to deputize with the title of Vice -Chair.
The Board considered whether the title “Senior Services” should be continued or whether this might deter the participation of certain residents. There being no agreement on a different title the suggestion was tabled until the next meeting. Mary Lee Gray brought up the matter of vendor gifts and how these should be recognized. She felt that where a gift such as a calendar is included in goody bags it should be m ade clear that this did not imply endorsement by the GNT or SS Board – particularly when the gift was from an entity providing a service which a senior might use. Tim O’Connor undertook to investigate whether there is a Board policy on this matter and if n ot he will seek advice from the City’s legal adviser. The Meeting adjourned at 3:10PM